Always Faithful: Out of Money. Out of Energy.

Psalm 136:1

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His faithfulness is everlasting.

If you have read my blogs from the last several months then you will be familiar with Middle Valley Baptist Church in Hixson, TN, a suburb of Chattanooga. After several years of difficulty without a pastor, they called a pastor who was bringing vision and energy back to the church. COVID-19 hit and the church worked hard to continue to minister to its members as well as to the community. And as the quarantines were coming to an end, this young pastor was diagnosed with cancer and died in August of 2022.

This is when I began serving as the Transitional Pastor. That role meant that I was charged with helping the church to identify its next steps and chart a course toward reaching its vision. We went through several months of research, prayer, and discussion that all eventually led to the church calling a Replant Pastor and starting over. They are well into the replant today and God is blessing the church and ministry there.

But today, I want to share a different perspective on the same story. I want you to meet the four people from the Leadership Advisory Team who walked together to seek God with the church for what do to next. Meet Linda Brown, Jenny Crawley, Randy Liendecker, and Daniel Noles. Together we were charged with bringing a recommendation to the church. From day one, we had a front-row seat to see the faithfulness of God. We saw God move in a mighty way and we learned about the faithfulness of God.

It's Not Over Until God Says It's Over

Some of you today are walking through difficulties, hardships, and suffering and are wondering if it is over. You may be wondering if your job is over, your marriage is over, or even if your life is over. When the leadership team and I first began to meet, we had a question, “Is it over?” There was a small amount of money left in the bank. We had to view all expenses through a lens of questions, but mainly this one “Is this necessary?” And honestly, the leadership and congregation were fatigued and discouraged. To be candid with you, we all sat around that table in the Ministry Center and asked if it was time to call it quits for Middle Valley Church. But one of the things we learned about the faithfulness of God is what is found in Matthew 19:26b, “... with God all things are possible.” We prayed about many options including closing the church, selling the property, and giving the money to missions. But on this day we learned that it’s not over until God says it’s over. Today, over a year later, the church is moving forward with excitement and a Gospel focus.

“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your faithfulness, Lord, is everlasting; Do not abandon the works of Your hands.” Psalm 138:8

During those first few days of meeting with the leadership team, each of them expressed, “Pastor David, we are tired.” And truthfully they were tired. They had given, walked, prayed, worked, and sacrificed over and over. And I wasn’t sure if they had the desire or energy to press on. But each of them had a willing spirit to see how The Holy Spirit would work. They trusted in the faithfulness of God.

The Faith Gap

Another way we saw God move was in what I call “The Faith Gap.” Oftentimes, we know the will of God, or the direction God wants us to move, but we have no idea of how to accomplish His will. We may see a vision of the end result, but there is a gap in what we cannot see. I call that gap the faith gap. I believe, at least, in part, this is what II Corinthians 5:7 means when it says, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” There have been countless times in my own life that I have known convictionally the will of God regarding a matter. However, I had no idea how He would accomplish His will. There was a gap. It is in that gap, the faith gap, that we can trust in the faithfulness of God. And that is exactly what happened with the leadership team at the church.

It started with an exceptional giving month. As I mentioned, we nearly shut the doors at the beginning of our journey together. There wasn’t enough money to keep going. But through the generous gifts of a few people, we had an exceptional month. Looking back now, that was a signal that God wasn’t through with this church. That exceptional month bought us about six more months. We didn’t know it then, but each month would show a gradual financial improvement. What appeared to be coming to an end imminently, then became six months, then nine months. And here is the interesting thing, as each month extended we thought we knew the right answer. We thought, for example, that another church might step forward and take the church over and make it one of their satellite campuses. And there were other things we saw that appeared to be the steps forward. However, one by one each option went away and the faith gap seemed to get larger. Yet there seemed to be a growing conviction among us as a leadership team that God was up to something. We were walking toward the future by faith and not by sight, trusting in the faithfulness of God.

God's Faithfulness is Stronger Than The Naysayers

There were many ways this leadership team saw the faithfulness of God, but there was one final truth we learned that I want you to know. We learned that there were some voices around us, some naysayers. Although those voices were loud, as we listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the faithfulness of God echoed even louder! For the most part, these voices were outside the church family. People like Sanballat and Tobiah from the book of Nehemiah, each with their opinion of what we should or should not do. But I can tell you that God’s faithfulness is greater than their negativity and opinions.

God’s faithfulness is not distracted by the naysayers. God’s faithfulness is determined in His own character. Do you remember how this series started?

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” II Timothy 2:13

Today you may be facing what seems like an impossible situation. Trust in the faithfulness of God, just like Jenny, Linda, Randy, Daniel, and the entire Middle Valley Baptist Church, who learned that God is faithful, even amid difficult circumstances, because He cannot deny Himself.